Verbal molestation: the light and dark sides of broadcast conversation There can be little more invasive than unwanted noise. Aeroplanes, trains, even music (pressed to the loudspeaker at a rock concert, the overloud iPod) can bombard and make life unpleasant, and even painful. Well, that is classic noise pollution for which there are laws; but what about…
On being older
I am now 67 and am having the time of my life. Inevitably, the way I am feeling and acting now is the product of both my age and my recent retirement, and the exact contribution of the two components is difficult to disentangle. I actually retired from being an academic with an active role in…
French as she (or he) is spoke
By my early sixties the limitations of my 1958 ‘O’ Level French were being cruelly exposed when attempting to converse with my neighbours in France and for the last four years or so I have been learning French. I have done the majority of my studying at the Institut Francais in London, and this has…